Not too long ago ive had 2 encounters with a schizophrenic man at a mall. What triggered his delusion of me following him or trying to hurt him was that we happened to pass by each other 3 times at the mall by mere coincidence, after the 3rd time he freaked out and asked me if i was following him, i nodded no, He got somewhat closer to me, looked at me for a few seconds with a suspicous look on his face and then he left.

The second encounter happened 6 months later, as i was coming into a Target store he was there at the returns line and his appearance changed drasticaly, the first encounter he was clean shaven with short hair and well dressed. This time his hair was wavy,he had a beard and some dirty clothes on, he was also wearing dark sunglasses. He yelled out to me to catch my attention, when i approached him the first thing he said was "Stop following me". As i tried to explain to him that i was not someone out to hurt him and i was never following him in the first place he kept repeating "Leave me alone!,just leave me alone!" And i could see that he was absoultely terrified of me. He did say "Next time i see you." But nothing to finish that statement but i could see that he is not the violent type of Schizo.

Just before i walked away he suddenly became calm and <made a rude comment>" And looked the other way.

I read up on schizophrenia and his behavior matched some of the symptoms listed.

Im really hoping this would be the last encounter because i was extremely irritated by this guy and i dont want to blow up on him in another encounter. Which is why i want to know if there is any possible way to communincate to him in hopes to calm him down and realize im not someone thats out to "get him"

Perhaps if you stopped thinking the term "schizo", you would be better able to empathise with this poor man. It is not your job to convince him of anything, just say "yeah hi" and leave. It can spook a healthy person to keep seeing the same person all the time, imagine how scared it can make someone who does not have a real grip on reality. You scare him more by confronting him. Sera

The Following User Says Thank You to Seraph For This Useful Post:
jka12002 (05-27-2013)

I do apologize if i came off rude or offensive using the term "Schizo" to describe the man. Perhaps youre right maybe i should just leave the guy alone and ignore him. Come to think of it i probably did more harm to him during the second encounter when i confronted him.

A few weeks back i used the term "Schizo" in my post and its evident to me that i may have offended people on here, i assure you that it was not my intention to offend anyone, nor i was using it in a bad way. But still i would like to apologize for that from the bottom of my heart. It wont happen again.